The present invention relates to trailers and transport vehicles and, more particularly, to the sidewall structure of such trailers or transport vehicles.
Transport vehicles, such as trailers, typically include a cargo space enclosed by a plurality of walls and a roof. Objects needing transport from one place to another are loaded into the cargo space and are protected from rain, snow, ice, dirt, road debris and other elements during transport by the roof and walls of the trailer.
The sidewalls and front panel of the trailer commonly include a plurality of aluminum sheets or plates (in thickness greater than 1/16 inch), steel sheets, fiberglass reinforced plywood or other composite material (generally made of metal facings laminated onto plastic or other material) cut and formed into sheets or panels which are attached to each other in series at their opposite side edges. The sidewalls may include vertical supports (“posts” or “logistics posts”) as well as the sheets or panels to provide for strength, stiffness or cargo restraints. The trailer also generally includes at least one door allowing access to the cargo space, and often this door is on the rear wall of the trailer. In addition to the walls, the trailer includes a roof and floor arrangement which may rely on the structural integrity of the sidewalls.
Mounting points may be provided along the interior of the cargo container for cargo restraint systems and other purposes. Such mounting points may be obtained by incorporating specific cutouts or apertures into the inside surfaces of the trailer. These apertures can be incorporated into the vertically-oriented logistics posts which are often inserted into the joining means between adjacent panels.
The vertically-oriented logistics posts may be exposed on the outer surface of the trailer, in-between the panels. Because the posts may include some sort of lateral recesses to receive and retain the adjacent sheets or panels, the posts commonly extend outwardly from the trailer in a horizontal direction. Because the posts extend laterally to some degree beyond the side sheets or side panels, the posts add to the drag or wind resistance of the trailer as it travels along the highway, particularly at high speed. Such drag or wind resistance decreases the gasoline mileage of the truck that pulls the trailer.
What is neither disclosed nor suggested by the prior art is a trailer with side posts that do not substantially add to the wind resistance of the trailer.